Thursday, September 9, 2004: Colorado: Scholarships help address nurse shortage:"As a global nursing shortage has forced countless medical facilities to limit and even cut vital health care services to their patients, officials at Yampa Valley Medical Center are working hard to keep the impact of the shortage as far from Routt County as possible.
An innovative scholarship program and an in-house training program are just two ways the Steamboat Springs hospital and health care facility is addressing its current and future nursing needs.
"We're really trying to do something to help ourselves instead of wringing our hands and saying, 'Oh, there's a nursing shortage,'" YVMC spokesperson Christine McKelvie said."http://www.steamboatpilot.com/section/health_care/story/26753

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August 22, 2001: Colorado, Denver: HealthONE Alliance Seeds Innovative Nursing Center. Major players partner to solve state's nurse shortage:"Denver, Colorado. HealthONE Alliance, the non-profit partner in metro Denver's largest hospital system, will provide seed money to create a Colorado center of excellence for nursing. HealthONE Alliance has earmarked a quarter million dollars to address the state's nursing shortage. The seed money culminates a one-year examination of the state's nursing crisis by a collaborative group of health care stakeholders* formed in 1999 by HealthONE Alliance to explore innovative solutions to the shortage of nurses in the state."
HealthONE Alliance
600 South Cherry Street
Suite 217
Denver, CO 80246
303-322-3515
fax: 303-322-4576
ltrenbeath@health1.org
http://www.health1.org/

National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.:"The following narratives have been written by individual state boards of nursing regarding the significant activities in their respective states related to the nursing shortage. These excerpts do not provide a comprehensive update of the nurse shortage in these states or nationwide. The information is simply intended to share information among Member Boards."
National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.
676 N. St. Clair Street
Suite 550
Chicago, Illinois, 60611-2921
Telephone: (312) 787-6555. info@ncsbn.org http://www.ncsbn.org/news/stateupdates_state_shortage.asp

Nursing Shortage Serious For Seniors, About.com:"As the population ages the impact of the nursing shortage will be even greater.
There is a threat to the health of every older adult in the United States and Canada looming on the horizon. It is not a virus or new type of bacteria that is causing this threat. The threat to health is a result of the increasing shortage of nurses in both countries.
Over the last couple of years there have been numerous stories in the press about the magnitude and causes of the shortage. So far solutions for this situation have been few. Additionally this nursing shortage will impact the oldest of citizens the most. Older adults use health care services at a higher rate than do younger people. Advances in medicine and improved nutrition and lifestyle have added years to the average life span. With this longer life comes higher needs for medical services, especially the services of professional nurses."http://seniorhealth.about.com/cs/prevention/a/nurse_shortage.htm

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The Nurse/Patient Ratio by Genevieve M. Clavreul RN, Ph.D.:"The New Year heralds many things, and this year brings legislation mandating a patient/nurse ratio in California. But after the confetti stops falling, did we get what we want? We now have a panacea for thousands of nurses in California, however, the ratio really can’t be enforced. (At the writing of this article the companion bill for enforcement is stalled in the legislature, having been defeated at least once already).
As my children are fond of saying, “why am I not surprised?” Having been a nurse for almost 30 years, most of those years spent in the NICU/PICU, I am used to working with a strict nurse/patient ratio. ICU’s and a few other areas of nursing have always been under the control of an “acuity” system. Actually, all nursing is supposed to be, but we all know this isn’t always the case. For this reason, I knew in my heart that legislating a nurse/patient ratio was probably an exercise in futility."
Working Nurse, Working World Magazine
3600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1526
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel:(213)385-4781,
Fax:(213)385-3782, WorkingNurse@WorkingWorld.comhttp://www.workingworld.com/magazine/viewarticle.asp?articleno=254&wn=1

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Nursing: A Medical Emergency, and Opportunity, hits home by Ronald A. Reis and Karen F. Reis RN:"You’re an RN, and you’ve been at it, administering to the sick and wounded, for months, years, maybe even decades. You’ve got your hands full with 12-hour shifts, high turnover, an often less than supportive work environment, and a stressed-out health care system that is, in places, itself on life-support. What to do? How to keep going? How to make this job, career, meaningful again? How to get out of nursing what you went into it for? How to avoid adding to the national nursing shortage by short-circuiting your own involvement in a noble profession?"
Working Nurse, Working World Magazine
3600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1526
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel:(213)385-4781,
Fax:(213)385-3782, WorkingNurse@WorkingWorld.com
http://www.workingworld.com/magazine/viewarticle.asp?articleno=253&w

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